Essential to good performance of a CCD image sensor is the charge detection amplifier which converts charge stored at an individual photosite into a signal of adequate magnitude for further processing. For high speed CCD image sensors, there is a difficulty associated with the output of the signal from the CCD circuit. Referring to FIG. 1, a prior art charge detection amplifier is shown. The charge detection amplifier of FIG. 1 is a multiple source follower circuit with an optional bipolar transistor 20 bonded in the same package to drive an off chip loading capacitance 22. The circuit of FIG. 1 includes a detection circuit 23 which includes a floating diffusion detection node 24 (typically a reverse biased N-P junction), a reset element 26, reset signal .phi..sub.RS, and reference voltage V .sub.REF ; three stage source follower which includes transistors 30-32 and constant current sources 34-36; source voltage V.sub.dd ; bipolar transistor 20; resistor 38; loading capacitance 22; and output voltage V.sub.out. Since the multiple stages cause a delay and a loss of gain, it is not advantageous to continue in this direction with more stages. After about three stages, no advantage is gained from this design. Also, the loading capacitance 22 loads the output transistor which becomes a problem at higher frequencies.